Achieving gender equality in technology and innovation is just one part of the wider struggle to guarantee equal rights and opportunities for women and girls. This was the message by President Paul Kagame to a global platform of feminist convening governments, international organisations, civil society, the private sector and young people seeking to drive gender equality forward. As he shared Rwanda’s journey towards gender equality, Kagame outlined three in which the country is making interventions in the tech industry; ownership of smartphones, access to digital financial services, and science and technology and math studies at the upper secondary level. Rwanda’s tech industry is growing steadily, attracting venture capital funding—the most recent is the $250 million raised by Zipline. This does not necessarily mean that the sector’s boom and heavy investment in infrastructure such as broadband necessarily translates into the reduction of men dominance. However, for Rwanda, there’s a lot to celebrate. There’s a number of women entrepreneurs who are behind the start-up ecosystem in the tech industry. The infrastructure that has been put in place is helping women to create economic opportunities for themselves. Globally, however, much more needs to be done beyond pledging; concrete actions need to be taken. As long as there is no level playing field among gender in all communities - regardless of their traditional and religious beliefs, similar “gender” meetings will come and go and the hardworking women will continue to suffer in silence.
